Monuments to victory and loss
THE ROMAN MONUMENTAL ARCH (the term arcus triumphalis only occurs quite late in the Imperial period, notably on two of the many arches erected in North Africa, in what is now Algeria, one at Cirta, of the time of Caracalla (reigned 212-17), and another at Cuicul, built under Severus Alexander (r. 222-35), was a type of formal gateway, set over an axis in commemoration of an event or an individual, through which processions would pass.
Many were temporary structures, but several permanent exemplars have survived which have had an immense influence on architectural composition until comparatively recent times. One of their chief functions was, a chariot pulled by four animals (usually horses), and driven by the individual commemorated.
